Discovering Jazz

Some of the music in this week’s episode is new, a lot of it’s old; they are from lp records, cd’s, and downloads that I’ve recently acquired. Or, in some cases, about to acquire. The lp tracks are by Marian McPartland, H.B. Barnu

I’m always on the look out for music that inspires me. I may find it through going into thrift stores, perusing emails and facebook mesages from friends and Discovering Jazz listeners, and even by looking at current jazz releases. It might be vinyl

Oscar Peterson is described by one of his former students, Victoria’s Louise Rose, as being “driven”…yet still “without ego”. And in the 1972 documentary about him called In the Key Of Oscar, he expressed mixed feeling

Here in Victoria we are blessed with having a marvellous pianist, singer, and arranger teaching and giving delightful concerts. Her name is Louise Rose, and she studied composition and arranging with the great Duke Ellington. This week’s I present

Part 1 was about its invention and the 9 different types of saxophones. Part 2 was it’s evolution in jazz as well as its use in classical, r’n’b, and rock ‘n roll. This episodes features more great jazz saxophonists, plus the inst

This is Part 2 of my three part series on the saxophone. I take you through the early days of jazz, then talk about how Coleman Hawkins transformed the tenor sax from “mooing and rubbery belches” into a purveyor of musical art. I also touch o

Beginning a 3 part series on the saxophone…it’s development and use in jazz and other forms of music. In this first episode I play recordings featuring each of the 9 saxophones–from the highest pitched sopranino to the lowest pitched su

It’s mostly from my jazz section…but not all. Some you might call ‘world music’, some ‘gospel’, a bit of funk, and one ‘pop; vocalist. But it’s all pretty good, I think (except for maybe the last one). And

As I say in my introduction to the podcast, I do play lots of ‘jazz’ that is on the fringes of the genre. A lot of those can be found in my record collection. This week and next I’ve dipped into that collection and I’m spinning a

I played some records by some great female instrumental jazz artists last week….and this week I have some more (plus a vocalist or two). I remember only a few years ago when people so often spoke about the dearth of women in the jazz world. And jus

March 8 is International Women’s Day. It falls on a Tuesday–the same day I upload these podcasts. It turned out to be so easy to find great female jazz instrumentalists; much easier than when I did a similar podcast four years ago. And the in

From solo bass to bass in a big band. From free jazz to Gypsy Jazz. And lots more. You’ll hear more bassists in this episode. They include Christian McBride, Victoria’s Joey Smith, Eberhard Weber, Stanley Clarke, Charlie Haden, Ron Carter, Br

For all you Jaco fans…two tracks from his Weather Report days. I play a track from another electric bassist you’ve probably never heard of…Bill Takas. Another lesser known bassist is Victoria B.C. born Neil Swainson….and here I pl

This episode is part 1 of a three part series on bass players in the world of jazz. I begin with the tuba—which, along with the bass saxophone, was the primary bass instrument in turn of the century New Orleans Jazz. They couldn’t use a strin

Twelve more recordings voted by jazz critics and radio stations as being the best of 2021. I start with Los Angeles pianist Cameron Graves and end with Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga. And between those selections are a variety of straight-ahead and ‘

From perusing a number of ‘best of’ lists, filled with choices of top albums of 2021 by jazz fans and critics, I present tracks from 9 more albums. Some of it is more ‘modern’ sounding–such as Wadada Leo Smith, Floating Poin

This week I play two versions of the tune that students and professional jazz players say is a ‘must learn’ if you’re going to any kind of a jazz jam. I also list other tunes that people from the Jazz World site mentioned when I asked t

You’ve been invited to an informal jam session and you want to make sure you are familiar with the tunes likely to be played or ‘called out’. Which ones do you need to know? I asked this question on a facebook site (The Jazz World) popu

Various websites and magazines put out their ‘best of’ lists for 2021. I chose the first six that came up on Google, and also looked at the summary of the albums most played by jazz radio stations (mostly American) for the year. I listened to

When I searched for ‘the best jazz albums of 2021’ in mid December, I found six sites that listed or ranked their favourites. Some of them were compilations of different critics or fans responses; others I don’t know how they compiled t

A great variety of interesting and excellent music that I’ve downloaded sometime between 2017 and now. Some of it is what we all know as ‘jazz’, including Karryn Allison, Bill Evans Trio, Kenny Washington, Kelly Eisenhour, Billy Childs,

This week I play Christmas and winter holiday music by some of the greatest jazz players and singers of all time. You’ll hear Oscar Peterson, Sarah Vaughan, Arti Shaw, Toronto’s Robi Botos, Diana Krall, Dave Brubeck, Louis Armstrong, John Col

A jazz fan, Peter Waddell, who says he is not a musician. He once again selects some amazing records and talks about why these particular tracks give him joy. Lots of modern recordings and two historical gems. Since he has commended me for playing on the

A reviewer wrote about my podcast: “Larry shares the findings of his ongoing journey with enthusiasm: …..innovators and perfectors from a century of creative expression; global giants and local joys’ the old and the new’ influence

After Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue took the jazz world by storm, jazz musicians and fans expressed much excitement about what has been termed ‘modal jazz’. This is a sub-genre that uses long passages of unchanging harmony based on differen